Saison IPA

I moved from Idaho to Chicago with only what would fit in a pickup truck, and in the process, I had to shed some brewing gear. I'm working on rebuilding the brewing system better than what it was, but it will take time and money--two resources quite scarce to me right now--so stay tuned for some DIY project posts.

The idea for this recipe came more out of compromise than creativity. Maybe it is just me leaving the arid landscape of the West, but the Midwest is humid and hot, so I was worried about a healthy fermentation and yeast attenuation. I picked up some Wyeast Saison yeast (3721), known for its ability to perform in high temperatures, and I still had some left over hops that made the drive with me. 

So, I figured I'd try out a Farmhouse IPA recipe. What's it like? New Holland Farmhouse Hatter IPA or the Great Divide Beligica, maybe even a...

Recipe:

Berliner Weisse and Decoction Mashing

Decoction mash

I'm moving across the country, and my intentions were to quiet things down on the homebrewing front for the move, but when a friend asked me to introduce him to the craft, I just couldn't resist. I had three weeks total to brew a beer from grain to bottle, so I chose a Berliner Weisse. I also decided to try out a decoction mash, which I had never attempted before.

A decoction mash is a traditional technique used in many European styles, especially in Germany. It was used to maximize the yield of poor quality malt and has since stuck around. The decoction mash involves removing a portion of the mash, boiling it, and then adding it back into the main mash. Some recipes call for double or triple decoction mashes. Why? Well, according to Randy Mosher in Radical Brewing, "it heightens malty grain-derived flavors." From what I noticed during the process, some of the grain in the decoction caramelizes, so the beer should have that carmel flavor to it, but I'm not sure why a brewer couldn't just add caramel malt or other specialty malts to a mash and derive a similar effect. 

Which brings us to the next point; many people call this process an unnecessary hassel. They maintain that with the advances in grain quality, one can have as good results using only the common infusion mash instead. I figured I'd try it out, and see if I can establish a foothold in the controversy. 

Between arguing over the mash spoon, they posed

Berliner Weisse, aka Mover's Ale aka Exodus Idaho aka Cross Country Ale -- I could go on...

Batch Size: 8 gallons (we were brewing for three people)

 Malt:

6 lbs. German Pilsner Malt 

4 lbs. White Wheat Malt

Hops: 

1 oz. Liberty (I had this in the fridge leftover, but you could use any low AA spicy hop)

Yeast:

Wyeast Lacto Delbrueckii (my homebrew shop didn't carry Berliner Weisse yeast).

Dregs of Jolly Pumpkin, Russian River, and some other stuff (House Blend added later)

Mash Schedule

Add malt at 100°F ------- 10 min rest

Remove 1 gallon bring to boil for 10 min; meanwhile, bring main mash to 120°F

Add decoction back into main mash bring up to 145°F ----- 15 min rest

Finally, bring up to 155°F -- 10-15 min

I sparged with 166°F, but I'm not sure this was necessary.

Beginning of fermentation and settling out

I added the hops, brought the wort to boil and then shut it off, since the Berliner Weisse is traditionally brewed without a boil. I also left hops in during the chilling.

I pitched the Wyeast Lacto culture and waited a several days before I pitched the house yeast blend. My yeast profile here is not ideal for this style. I would recommend just using the Wyeast Berliner Weisse, but like I said, I couldn't find it (may be a limited release). 

Three days after brewing.
Same beer with different fermentation rates. Strange, right?

Anticipated gravity: 1.036 (75% efficiency)

Actual gravity: 1.035 (not too shabby)

Can't wait to see how it turns out. 

Flanders Red: The Graduation Ale

In an effort to make this blog a bit friendlier to homebrew neophytes, I'm going to write a description of the style of beer before I do a tasting of it. I don't like to get too caught up in categorizing, especially since the most interesting beers break conventions. Nonetheless, when I attempt a traditional style, I think it's only appropriate to give some background. 

Style: The Flanders Red resembles a red wine more than a beer. It has a spicy vanilla character from the oak aging, and the presence of tannins gives some astringency like wine. Traditionally there are a lot of esters that give fruity flavors akin to currants or cherries. The style is a classic sour ale with a tart finish attributed to wild yeast fermentation (brettanomyces) and bacteria (pediococcus and lactbacillus), but the traditional yeast (saccharomyces) play a part as well. The style is clear, maintains good head retention, and a vinous burgundy color.  

Examples: Rodenbach Grand Cru, Duchesse de Bourgogne, Ommegang Rouge, New Belgium La Folie. American examples that take influence from the style: Jolly Pumpkin La Roja and Russian River Consecration. 

The Graduation Ale Tasting (my version of a Flanders Red)

Aroma: Whole lot of oak. Vinegary with a wine-like spiciness. Earthy loam-like smell, but no barnyard or hay smell that often results from a wild yeast fermentation. 

Taste: Slightly sweet, but then turns tart and acidic with the slightest astringency and a bit of fruity currants. Finishes with a strong oak flavor and a bit of wine/tannin flavor. I suppose this is to be expected since the oak that I used was brand new and hardly diluted. In the U.S. this style is often aged in winery barrels that have lost most of their oak influence. With time, the oak will dissipate and the ale will balance out (Name of beer should be amended to the post-graduate ale).

Appearance: Ruby brown, burgundy. No head whatsoever, but I just bottled this beer three weeks ago so it will need some time. Since the beer sat in the fermenter around eight months, I imagine that it may take awhile for the bottles to carbonate. I know some people add a pinch of dry yeast.

Mouthfeel: Clean with a good body, definitely not light but not too heavy either. Again, it really reminds me of a lighter red wine. Not enough carbonation, which vindicates my plan to age this beer for at least another four months.

Overall: For those of you who have been following the blog, this is the oak dowel experiment beer. The dowel really imparted an influence of oak into the beer--maybe a little too well--and there is definitely a nice tart sour flavor. I'd say it was a success, but I'm not sure if the dowel is worth the trouble. The last sour wheat I made turned out a beautiful tart flavor without the added oxygen of the wood, and I think cubes would be easier to use than the dowel for oak flavor, but I'll withhold an opinion until the results are conclusive. This beer should be great once the oak balances out and the carbonation gets up to par. I will leave it to sit for awhile longer before I give it another taste. My wedding is in November so I may call this the Nuptial Ale and cut my losses now. 

Sour Blonde Wheat Ale Tasting

Sour Blonde Wheat Ale

Brewed the Sour Wheat Ale a little over two months ago, and it should be ready for a tasting by now. This brew clocks at 4.5% ABV, and unlike the Flanders Red Ale that I fermented with this same yeast concoction, this beer never formed a pellicle; however, it was not nearly exposed to as much oxygen nor did it have a lot of time. Before bottling, when I tasted it out of the fermenter, I was very surprised at how sour it got in such a short amount of time. I also couldn't taste any of the coriander or orange.


Aroma: Clean citrus, esters and mildly sweet--almost like the smell of cotton candy. No funk or barnyard animals in this one. A bit of orange. No spice smell.

Appearance: Cloudy, as a wheat beer should be, and nice golden straw color. Head forms right away, but isn't thick and dissipates quickly. I'd chalk this up to another recipe that doesn't account for head retention but I know that the Berliner Weiss style, which this brew is loosely based upon, has a head that dissipates quickly. So I think it's just the style.

Flavor: Wheat-lactic goodness. A very pleasant, sharp, acid-tang that lasts awhile. A hint of sweetness. Some lingering esters, a bit of the orange, and maybe some spice, but really not much at all. Very clean taste. Cannot detect the alcohol over the tanginess. Lemons too. Maybe just a bit of that hay-like character that Bretts are notorious for. No hop bitterness, although I do wonder what a little more hops would do to this beer. The sour taste may be a little too aggressive for some people, but I like it.

Mouthfeel: Crisp body. Very drinkable. Dry and clean. It needs a little more carbonation for the style, I think, but that will certainly come with more time in the bottle. This beer lacks body. I've had some interesting Berliner Weisses before that had a creamy consistency, and I wonder how the hell the brewer got it that way--I think I'm thinking of the Southampton Berliner.

Overall: This is a great beer and isn't going to last too long around the house. The lack of body is definitely the weakest part. I feel like if there's going to be an aggressive wild-sour taste there needs to be some structure behind it. Otherwise it's like drinking wheat lemonade.  Then again, this may just be the style. Very refreshing beer.

Bugs, Bretts, and all kinds of stuff clinging onto the carboy glass of the Flanders Red Ale

Dry Hopping Hodgepodge IPA

This is the first time I used Chinook in an American IPA recipe. It was recommended by the local homebrew shop as what they use in their IPA. I was reluctant since I really don't like their house IPA, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway.

I usually use Simcoe hops in my IPA since I love the clean woodsy pine taste, and Simcoe doesn't seem--at least to me--to have all the harsh resiny flavors. Chinook, I came to learn, is the forerunner of the harsh resiny hops, which I suppose is fine for hopheads, but I prefer having a more balanced IPA. With that said, I figured I'd explain a bit about hop usage and scheduling time.

The rule of thumb is that the earlier the hops go into the boil,  the more bitterness and less aroma they will impart. The scale tilts the opposite way as the hop is added toward the end of the boil. So a hop addition at 5 minutes left in the boil will add only those wonderful aromas we love when we pour a glass from the bottle or keg.

Dry hopping is the most effective method to make an aromatic brew. All you do is add fresh hops or hop pellets to the carboy after the fermentation has calmed down and let it sit for a few weeks. Apparently, in the past, dry hopping was used to help preserve beer, too.

I prefer to use whole hops because they impart the best aroma in my opinion, but many homebrewers hate using whole flowers because they're a pain to siphon out of the fermenter when the beer is ready to bottle or keg. Instead, they prefer hop pellets, which of course work well, too. I merely attach a bit of sterilized steel wool around the end of the siphon which acts as a buffer from the whole hop flowers and allows the siphon to flow without obstruction. 

Brew in a Bag--Hodgepodge IPA

This is my first experience with the brewing in a bag technique, and I thought it went well with little complaints. This method is best for people with limited resources who like to have complete control over their grain bill. 


Brewing in a bag gives the versatility of all-grain brewing without having to buy, clean or mess with a mash tun. I found it great for the apartment brewer, although I would recommend having a place to hang it outside as it can get a little messy.




All you need is a bag large and sturdy enough to hold wet grain and wrap it around the top of the pot as shown in the first picture. Then maintain the mash temperature with some towels or a fleece blanket as I did. I brought the water to about 161°F and then added the grain little by little to avoid doughy clusters, constantly stirring. The grain dropped the temp to about 156°F and the blanket worked incredibly well to insulate the mash. At the end of the hour, the temp was about 151°F--not bad for an outside temp of 42°. 




 
After the hour mash I hung it up and let it drain. I squeezed this bad boy as dry as I could, rinsed it with about two more gallons of sparge water at about 167 ° and squeezed it all over again. Then I did a 90 minute boil with the hop schedule as planned. All in all it was pretty simple. I was a little disappointed that both my local homebrew shops had no simcoe hops--terrible I know--so I just used a bunch of left over hops I had lying around in the fridge, hence hodgepodge.

Hodgepodge IPA


Grain Bill
14 lbs 2 row
12 oz. crystal 45
12 oz carapils
10 oz dextrose


Hops
3.5 oz chinook       90
.75 oz chinook       45
1 oz centennial      30
1 oz magnum        flameout
1 oz centennial      flameout


Dry Hop in secondary
1 oz chinook         2 weeks
1 oz centennial      2 weeks
1 oz columbus       2 weeks


.25 oz chinook      5 days at end
.25 oz columbus   5 days
.25 oz amarillo      5 days
.25 oz magnum     5 days


Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast


OG ----- 1.070  (roughly 7% ABV).
60% efficiency. So the brew in the bag isn't all that efficient of a method. But maybe I am missing something here--it was my first time.

Hail during the boil. Luckily we had a roof over us.

Dark Rye Tasting

Appearance - Dark brownish amber. If held up to light, can detect cloudiness. Little head and head retention. The recipe should be amended for the head; maybe flaked barley, carapils, rice hulls, or some wheat malt, although some of these might battle out the clean body taste below.

Aroma - Carmel, rye and malt. No hops, no alcohol.

Taste - Clean and light body. Maltiness, caramel, light carbonation. Some hop bitterness, but I think it needs a little more. Finishes very spicy, which I love about rye beers. 

Notes and Amendments: This beer needs more time in the cellar to balance out the maltiness. It's simply not there yet. I love the rye finish, but I think I'd use more hops next time, and maybe use chinook or fuggles instead of the magnum. I think I will use a different yeast too. Something a little more tart and dry, like a belgian strain, Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale or White Labs WLP550. Also, I'd put something in there for head retention. Of course there are things I'd change about the recipe, but all in all a pretty good beer.